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Iowa State football coach Matt Campbell is doing what others are doing in this modern era of college football recruiting. Evaluate early. Offer early. And then hope the kid remembers that initial interest in three or so years when it’s decision time.

Iowa State football coach Matt Campbell offered a scholarship to quarterback J.J. McCarthy, right, on after the Cyclones’ Saturday Nights Light camp on Saturday. McCarthy will be entering ninth grade. He’s getting instruction by backup Iowa State quarterback Zeb Noland.(Photo: Special to the Register)

Iowa State offers a football scholarship to a kid who hasn’t even played yet on his high school varsity team ... before participating in his first high school practice ... before knowing for sure that he won’t want to specialize in something else — like hockey.

Has Matt Campbell lost his mind?

He did the offering last Saturday night — and no, his mental faculties aren't gone.

Campbell is doing what others are doing in this modern era of college football recruiting. Evaluate early. Offer early. And then hope the kid remembers that initial interest in three or so years when it’s decision time.

Campbell made quarterback J.J. McCarthy a scholarship offer after the Saturday Night Lights football camp at the Cyclones' football complex. McCarthy is 14. He’s a rising freshman. He’s 5-foot-11 and 150 pounds.

And he went to sleep Saturday night with the first college scholarship offer of his life.

“I am beyond grateful to just receive a full scholarship offer Iowa State University!” McCarthy wrote on his Twitter account around 10 Saturday night.

I attended Iowa State’s football camp Saturday. I saw McCarthy performing on the turf inside the Cyclones’ Bergstrom Football Complex. I watched as McCarthy zipped passes while wearing a ballcap facing backward. I saw him run. I saw him talking to Cyclones backup quarterback Zeb Noland.

“It’s surreal,” J.J.’s father, Jimmy, told The Des Moines Register on Sunday. “His main focus is getting ready for the season (at Nazareth Academy in LaGrange, Ill.). He’s so grateful to be offered and noticed at such a young age. The Iowa State football staff couldn’t have been more kinder and more welcoming.”

Iowa State coaches knew about J.J. even before Saturday night’s camp. They saw him during a satellite camp in Illinois — and by the way, what do a college coach and a 14-year-old with extreme football talent talk about?

The usual Here’s What Iowa State Can Do For You heart-to-heart talk doesn’t mean much to a youngster who has four more years ahead of him before college football becomes a reality.

What academic major do you want to pursue?

Some high school seniors don’t even know that, so to bring that up to a kid just entering ninth grade — I’m sure it didn’t happen.

The Class of 2021? That’d be Year No. 6 for Campbell at Iowa State.

“They told him to enjoy the high school experience,” J.J.’s dad told me. “They told him there’s nothing better than the experience of being in high school.

“This is all so new to us," Jimmy McCarthy said. "Iowa State definitely being the first to offer — it means so much.”

Offering pre-high schoolers is the world in which we live. College football recruiting has changed, and Iowa State’s offer to McCarthy is an example. Right or wrong, it’s happening.

When I scanned the 247sports.com website Sunday afternoon, 14 Power Five programs had extended offers to eight players for the Class of 2021. Baylor, Iowa State and Texas Tech ... Florida, LSU and Mississippi State ... Missouri, Ole Miss and Tennessee ... A&M, Indiana and Maryland ... Purdue and UCLA.

Those schools had already offered a scholarship to at least one football player who’s a couple months from entering ninth grade.

“I’m OK with early offering, but everyone has to keep it in perspective,” said Nazareth Academy coach Tim Racki, who has been coaching football for 20 years. “The Class of 2021 — that’s a long ways off. We can’t even project where he’ll play — whether it’s on the sophomore team, with the freshmen, or the varsity. He, along with anyone else, has to earn it.

“It’s a tremendous compliment, but let’s stay in the moment. Take a deep breath. It’s cool, but let’s worry about summer camp (which started Monday) and then high school.

“It’s nice to know, though, that J.J. has a football scholarship at a big-time school right there in his back pocket.”

Can ninth-graders handle early scholarship offers? Will their heads swell?

“He’ll keep all this in perspective,” Racki said. “He’s talented and skilled beyond his years. His grades have been off the charts. I can brag on and on. We have to let this kid enjoy his experience — which he will. His mom and dad raised an incredible kid. J.J. is very well-grounded.”

What about it, Dad?

“J.J. is a humble kid who right now is focused on winning games at Nazareth Academy,” said Jimmy McCarthy, who played football at North Park College in Chicago. “He wants to enjoy football. He wants to enjoy high school — and that’s what the Iowa State coaches told him.

“It does mean a lot, though, knowing that Iowa State was the first to look at him.”

Iowa State columnist Randy Peterson has been with the Register for parts of five decades. Randy writes opinion and analysis of Iowa State football and basketball. You can reach Randy at rpeterson@dmreg.com or on Twitter at @RandyPete